Cancel Culture

“Something bad just happened.”

 

Anna looked at her son's face as he began to tear up. With a pit in her stomach she asked, “What’s the matter?” 

 

“No one will talk to me,” Mike said.

 

“What?” She searched for clues in his troubled pout. “Why won’t anyone talk to you?”

 

Mike explained that he had been bumped off of his camp group chat and that none of his friends would respond to his individual texts. Kids he had grown up with for the past eight years, some with whom he was incredibly close, were suddenly ghosting him. Turns out, one of the kids from his year at camp had posted in the group chat that Mike had said something he hadn’t, and when he denied it, no one listened.

 

Mike spiraled. He began to feel like even his closest friends didn’t know him. He felt disconnected. Alone. Trapped in a world where perception mattered more than reality - with no way to clear his name and regain his integrity or his friends.

 

Thankfully, a friend eventually vouched for Mike, and the friends returned to their usual group chat banter.

 

Why it matters

 

It took far longer to clear Mike's name than it did to tarnish it in the first place, and for the moment during which he was CANCELED, things looked rather bleak. The situation could have escalated quickly. What if Mike hadn’t told Anna what had happened? What if his friend hadn’t vouched for him? 

 

When sound bites are taken as fact until proven false the consequences can be dire.

 

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Breaking the Cycle

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Depolarizing Discourse is a five step framework designed to slow thinking and improve cognitive flexibility. It enables adolescents to default to reason and critical analysis, rather than succumb to passive manipulation or exploitation by tech platforms and the habitual behaviors to which they contribute.